NATIONAL NEWS - Just over half of early learning programmes in South Africa (popularly known as ECDs) have storybooks that meet the development needs of our youngest children. 

The rest do not – and these are predominantly in the country’s poorest areas. This is a stark reminder on International Literacy Day that too many South African children enter Grade 1 already behind, without the literacy foundation they need to succeed. 

Research shows that children who lack early literacy skills are far more likely to fall behind and face long-term educational challenges. 

Since more than 40% of households in the country have no books at all, one of the places they could be accessing reading material is at early learning programmes, but such facilities in low-income communities are severely under-resourced. 

This lack of access to books at early learning programmes and more importantly, homes, means that many children are not being read to in their earliest years. 

The consequences are profound: South Africa continues to face a literacy crisis, with about 80% of children in South Africa unable to read for meaning by Grade 4, which in turn has lasting effects on their learning trajectories. 

To change this, Umncedi, a DG Murray Trust (DGMT) incubated project, has partnered with Book Dash to execute a pilot programme that ensure a child has access to at least one book in and ECD. 

“This ensures that early learning programmes not only receive support, but also the age-appropriate reading materials they so often lack. For many children, it will mean the very first books they can engage with meaningfully,” says Kwanda Ndoda, project lead of Umncedi. 

Research shows that owning books from a young age can change the trajectory of a child’s life. When children own books, it enables and increases book sharing and responsive parenting, which boost early developmental outcomes. 

Umncedi, which means “helper” in isiXhosa, is a national resource hub that provides practical guidance, and digital access to knowledge for ECD practitioners. 

By offering this scaffolding, Umncedi helps community-based centres overcome challenges around registration, programme delivery, and sustainability. Umncedi fashions itself as a resource hub whose overall aim is to make ECDs sustainable small to medium enterprises.

Book Dash is a social impact publisher with the vision that every child should own a hundred books by the age of five. Since its inception, Book Dash has produced more than 200 children’s books, translated them into multiple South African languages, and distributed over four million copies. 

Their model, mobilising volunteers to create books quickly and affordably under open licence, ensures that high-quality, culturally relevant stories reach families who otherwise might never have access to them. 

This pilot also serves as a test for what a national “book fund” could look like. For several years, DGMT has been calling for private sector collaboration to make story books available to young children through a concept known as a book fund. 

“The aim is to build a sustainable pipeline of affordable, high-quality, and culturally relevant books into early learning programmes across the country,” Ndoda explains. “This partnership is about ensuring that stories are in children’s hands, homes, and hearts. We cannot expect children to read for meaning by Grade 4 if they start Grade R without ever having held a book,” says Ndoda. 

By aligning Umncedi’s reach and networks in the ECD sector with Book Dash’s creative and logistical strength, the partnership will not only distribute books into centres for children to take home and own, but also empower practitioners and parents to use them effectively in daily care and teaching. 

“Every child deserves the chance to grow up surrounded by stories, hearing them, holding them, and learning from them,” Ndoda concludes.  

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